Paul Vargis
TyThe last 2 Saturdays I was blessed to facilitate workshops at the Supernatural Life Centre in Calgary on Substance Misuse and behaviours. This morning was more of a chit chat with Q & A, but last week we dove right into the learning. What follows is some pictures, a short video clip, and slides…
https://www.facebook.com/100003228172418/videos/435749522398046
See the link below the pictures for a 10 minute clip of last week’s sharing.
Please note this was the outline of service, and sermon, the Spirit moves and does not cover everything added in or adapted as the community and events in the community re-shape in the moment, such as pointing out aiding those of our encampment neighbours, contact Alpha House 403-805-7388, 211. Or prayers for de-escalation, peace and truth and reconciliation in Israel-Palestine, or for our church family members in new journeys.
But this is the service as originally laid out
One is Not Enough…
Oct. 8, 2023
Centennial Presbyterian Church
Entry of the Word
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to worship at Centennial Presbyterian Church on this Thanksgiving Sunday, I am Dr. Ty Ragan, a local instructor at various post secondaries.
Today we are exploring the idea of substance misuse and compulsive behaviours, that we know commonly as addictions and the Image of God, as we engage with our neighbour—those whose struggle may be in public, or private, as we know with thanksgiving that we are created in God’s own image in the beautiful diversity that is.
Welcome to our regular church family members, and those who we are meeting for the first time on this blessed Sunday, please join me in the call to worship.
Call to Worship
Leader: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
All: the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonable happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
Time of Praise:
1) BP 803 Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
2) SB 146 Here I am to Worship
Prayers:
God, on this Thanksgiving, we know that it should be a time of celebration of the harvest we reap, family together. Yet we know this moment in the church year, your church, in seeking Empire has done harm through colonization, has felt the pain of family disruption, we can see the glimmers of light, but know that there is many shadows to walk through for ourselves, that can blind us to another.
We admit that we should be able to see the pain another person bears, but we are all able to mask so well, taught to not let others inside the true pain. We all have our own ways to cope, whether it is through substances like alcohol, or the current epidemic of opioids that currently claims on average 5 neighbours a day, with 40% of those being in private residences. We stereotype, or let our own moral piety misquote your words of wage of sin and miss the point.
Whether it is misadventure, trying to fit in with friends, or simply to cope with a world internally or externally or both that has overwhelmed, one is simply trying to escape the pain or a neuro-diversity or epigenetics that leans into more of an openness to usage or behaviour we know there are as many diverse reasons as there is diversity in your created image here on earth, God.
We know as a province, we prey on those with gambling disorders, we know this because we hope they come so our casinos and bingos stay full and funding so we do not have to discuss how we do not provide for our non-profits, or our schools, where this money is used for sports, music, adaptive equipment for our students with disabilities, and sadly in 2023, to purchase simple supplies like printer paper.
We know we have had misadventures in our life of missing the mark, and to refocus, we can as we let the words Jesus taught us, not simply be rote memorization, or a magic formula, but conversations for what your just creation looks like… let us pray with Brother Jesus for that world…
Lord’s Prayer
Assurance of Pardon
For we know that we are loved, we know that we can see the amazing, the mystery, the joy and celebrate together. We live together, we thrive together, and we figure out together.
For is that not the true intent of the festival of Thanksgiving, at its core…together.
For we are human. Some days definitely more than others, but in that we know we can grow, and transform, as Brother Jesus’ life and teachings showed us. Just as he showed the path to radical belonging we strive for, that disrupts and heals the pain, even when we may be the obstacle unbeknownst to ourselves.
Amen.
Announcements – Elders
Church Family Celebrations- Elders
Children’s Time:
How many of you like to draw? What do you draw?
Make crafts? What do you make?
Do you play with play doh? What do you make?
In one of our readings, a prophet from long ago, told us that God lovingly crafted us, created us, imagined us. Look at each other, do we look the same? Or are we different?
That’s right, each of us is uniquely made, just like with the things you make, are all unique because of who you are. And you are an image of God.
Isn’t that amazing?
Remember when you meet new kids at school or day care or in your neighbourhood or Sunday school, remember that. Each person you see, each of us, is another way God looks, and was lovingly made and nothing in our lives changes that, you are all complete and perfect just as you are now, and you will be tomorrow and when you are big.
Pray with me?
Thank you God,
For making us,
Who we are meant to be.
Amen.
Hymn:
SB 215 Have Thine Own Way, Lord!
Scripture
Isaiah 64:8, Luke 15:11-32, Mark 12:38-44
This is the word of the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
I know Centennial has a long history of engagement with trying to solve homelessness, whether it was one iteration of youth serving an Inn from the Cold, support of the Veteran’s Food Bank, supporting the Mustard Seed, or the many years of walking on the Coldest Night of the Year, one thing that always comes through when we think of our houseless neighbours, is addictions, but it is not something that only the unhoused struggle with.
I returned to Centennial as an adult, serving at the Seed, and as a student at Alberta Bible College, today we enter into our exploration I have left the field of street ministry and the homeless serving sector due to health reasons, and am now fully in the education field, where one aspect is I am an adjunct professor at Alberta Bible College, where my course is on addictions. I want to spend some time reflecting on that, as it shapes our conversation today around what we call addictions, and the image of God. It is the first assignment in my class, due before the class begins, students are assigned the first part of our textbook, Csiernik’s Substance Use and Misuse: Everything Matters, and are asked to explain how their understanding of the image of God interweaves with the bio-psycho-social model.
It is a heady topic, but using their textbook, their faith, and the scriptures I want them to engage in understanding who is the person before them (or it could be them) as have leaned into an outdated moral model for quite a while. The moral model is the one that points to aa character or moral defect in the user, that is blaming the one trying to cope, which ties into the much-abused Romans 6:23, about the wages of sin being death. But this is not speaking of this type of sin, this is speaking of systemic, power abusing authority of Empire and Religious Authority, which we have used time and again to justify one way only thinking for recovery. The first part of our passage in Mark 12:38-40, about the false piety, thinking they deserve the best, that nothing is wrong internally or externally in their life within God. This is where the Moral Model gained ground, and the idea of the myth of rock bottom, that someone had to lose everything before they can come back and recover came from. There is no rock bottom, there is someone using a coping tool, that comes to a point when they want to stop, and when they ask in that moment for help, we as a community, a society, need to have the help there for them and know that it is a scribble journey, not a straight line. A spiritual direction notes here, when you are reading the gospels, and we arrive at the passages about religious leaders, scribes, Pharisees, Sadduccees, etc. Read them as Jesus speaking to the church and see how the impact on our hearts shift and changes, but I digress. Back to the challenge of where we are going.
This is where the challenge of the exploration of the Image of God and Substance Use/Misuse and Compulsive Behaviours/Behaviour Addictions that we group together as Addictions commonly, come together. It is understanding the change the central nervous system undergoes with substance misuse, as neurotransmitters are affected and changed, and the psychological connection within the compulsive behaviours as we have not definitively proven yet that there is a lasting system change that drives the behaviour, like the substance usage. Yet these aid in going beyond the moral, for it is not only saying a harm reduction approach with no talk of cessation, or abstinence only. These are misadventures in missing the point. As we interweave into a bio-psycho-social model, we can see the whole person at play.
Three circles creating a triangle I am sure for those of Celtic Christian resonance, the imagery is not lost. Sonia Winters, in her book, Pastoral Care and Addiction, brings the reader into a practical theological viewpoint showing the harm (as Csiernik does at a high academic level) of the moral model, and brings it into an understanding that by looking at the three aspects, the Spirit is there.
But what does this have to do with today’s readings you ask?
Well, this is the journey of connection, for the biological model was the first attempt to shake off the moral model, there was high success with Alcoholics Anonymous, and within that there was something called Allergy Theory, the concept that one sip of alcohol creates an allergic reaction so the drinker can’t stop, its an intriguing in class debate topic but it opened up a bridge. Most of us understand the biological from the concept of the medical model of it being a disease, which can be challenging with no stable cure though it can feed into fallacies that there is a magic remedy, another notable one is the genetic theory, and we do know that there is a genetic, or rather epigenetic component with genome pieces being turned on and off due to environmental stressors in utero or substance use or intergenerational trauma to name a few, as well as neurological models, someone with ADHD is 2-3 times more likely to abuse substances. It could also be a way of self medicating mental illness, a chronic condition or other malady. So the shift into biological gave us some answers but not all.
Like the widow giving her last two cents, this was a social commentary, where Jesus was noting worth, connection and belonging. She gave to help neighbour. This leads us into the social theory of the bio-psycho-social triune. Social theory is what it speaks of societies impact upon the person, things like group think, peer pressure, the fun of Marxist Theory, that the Bourgeois class controls the means of production, and like making religion an opiate in this model for the masses (proletariat), so also uses opiates and other substances as a means of control. There is sub-culture, deviant, and other theories. Within the realm of sub-culture, as the Salvation Army grew up as a street ministry with an alcoholic ministry it is a main reason, they never created a practice of communion because in that era of founding communion only involved alcohol. Also, why many will avoid churches today that only note the juice at communion is for the children (another stigma levelled). Environmental Stress theory is one that resonates for it speaks to purpose in belonging, what we are created for in our image, this wonderfully interwoven system of ourselves that live interdependently with others. Take time to explore the Rat Park experiment on YouTube or the online comic book, in a few words it had rats in a park, with two types of water, that which was water, and that which was water with narcotic it found when the rats had nothing to do, they were more likely to choose the water with the narcotic. It also spoke to how those that may have used substances in highly stressful situations, like in a time of war, or had prescribed them for a surgery, could have use cease after those instances easier. Though that loops back to the need for belonging, not just prescriptions, though prescriptions can aid.
The idea of the Image needing community, remember that connection we spoke of, the true meaning of thanksgiving, has never been more apparent, than we can see what arises in our world and communities, hate, anger, epidemics of drug poisonings, when we allow or simply neglect the interdependence as we move into the last piece of the triune.
The Psychological which, is a fun playground, there are so many ideas around how someone is wired. Is it tied into attachment theory, that is how we are raised and learn to connect? What type of relationship have we been shown with substances and behaviours? Which speaks into learning theory. Then there is the humanistic theory, you know, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that he stole from the Blackfoot, and made it an independent European model, from the interdependent sacred teaching. Essentially, what is needed to be known, is internally we need to have connection within ourselves, know ourselves, know that we have secure food, housing, and connection with others so that we can thrive. It is not a hierarchal ladder, for these things can happen without the middle-class settler concept of security for it happens within community.
For this is the molding of the Potter’s Hands into our blessed intricate selves, who are fully who we are meant to be, and even with tribulations, are becoming who we are created to be, as the prophet Isaiah reminds the people at a time of captivity.
It is a long road into addictions, so it is not always a quick fix, a faux deliverance service or prayer, these may be aspects, someone may connect with a 12 step community because the spiritual speaks to them and connection aids, they may lean more into a SMART model for the psychological support, there are different models of residential or community based recovery models as well, and where does harm reduction fit? It interweaves throughout every step, for even in the 12 steps, recidivism is expected and supported to get back on track. Harm reduction with a safe supply, with a safe consumption site to ensure the substance being used is not toxic, using a model of managed alcohol consumption- that has always been in our veterans housing as they had 2 drinks a day for free in their social rooms, what does managed alcohol due? Sustains someone at the level they need to function, and ensure the alcohol they are drinking is meant to be consumed and not things such as lacquer from shoe polishes or records, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, etc. It is why naloxone/Narcan has become a standard in first aid kits, it can only reverse opioids, but it is one more tool to preserve life. Did you catch that? Preserve life. Preserve the image of God, -what other types of harm reduction exist? Vaccines. Masking during illness. Food banks and hampers. Benevolent aid. The Public Library. What else jumps to your mind that aids in preserving life, until healing can be connected to?
So, it is not a quick take this pill or this model and be cured, it is a spectrum, as much as the beautiful spectrum we are created in the image of God as. Which brings us into why the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 can be so powerful, we are going to enter into another spiritual practice, breath prayer and a Lectio Divina hearing this story 3 times, each time you are going to be asked to enter into it through the eyes of the Dad, the Older brother or the Younger Brother with your newly gained knowledge of the bio-psycho-social model, and what it means for your understanding of the Image of God within you, next to you, and those you will meet.
Our first reading, hear and experience the story as the dad, in this ancient land, feel the pews slip away, feel the sun on your face, the breeze, the sand, the sweat on your brow as you work…stay with any new understandings that come through as we rest into being Dad.
Our second reading, you are the elder brother watching how your sibling treats Dad, though with your new knowledge, what is revealed that can be masked, or may be seen. Where is your heart leading you into a new understanding and be there…
Our third reading, you are the youngest son, what emotion drives you to your dad that fateful morning as you hear this story—pride? Anger? Jealousy? Joy of some sort? Just wanting to see the world? As you hear these words again with the heart of the youngest, what new understanding may emerge in your own heart?
As we feel the breeze pass away to the closed air of the sanctuary, the dirt leave, the smell of roasting meat dissipates, feel the pew around you, when you are ready open you eyes and rejoin the now.
I hope you will share over coffee or with others the experience, for know we are shaped by the grand potter, we are completely who we are created to be now, if we are having struggles, there is help, 211 is an excellent place to start or your family doctor, if you’re not having struggles may this aid in your understanding or either way may our knowing of belonging in the image of God grown today.
May you feel the call to ensure a world where all are not only included, but cared for an belong, for whether it is one drink, one ounce of substance, one roll of the dice or touch of a button, or visit to a sex shop or dollar store, sometimes one is too much or not enough until someone drowns in it.
Let’s be the one willing to reach out, to humbly give like the widow.
To see, the image of God beyond the one is too much and know that there is a path.
Amen.
Offering
Dedication of the Offering
BP 663 God whose Giving Knows No Ending
(Tune: Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken)
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
This thanksgiving, yearning for connection of authenticity, reconciliation and healing in our world, country, province, city and communities, we pray, for our leaders, Charles, Our King, Mary, our Governor General, Justin our Prime Minister, Danielle, our Premier, Jyoti our mayor, and all those called to serve in public leadership of government. Called into ministry in our medical, addictions serving communities, and our own community churches for your divine love and wisdom to guide in shaping policies, laws, entitlements, medical supports that removes burden of survival, that no one will choose substance abuse, or problem compulsive behaviours that we know together as addictions to mask the pain and instead find place to thrive in purpose and belonging, for we know God.
May we speak out in justice, for our neighbours. To educate and be able to share the reasons why someone may use a coping tool that harms themselves. May we be open to challenging those elected to serve, that they provided appropriately for those in need, removing false barriers and means tests to alleviate stress triggers. May we see what it is to have health care as you would have crafted it, that being what the person needs, not what our ideological shouting chambers dictates… knowing it is not only abstinence or only harm reduction or only faith based or only secular that works for healing, but all are pieces of the puzzle to aid the person as they are complete, and their loved ones in community as well on the journey to wholeness and healing.
God, may we be a beacon of light, if not necessarily knowing the answers, simply knowing where to point to help someone, as simple as 211 or a quick internet search. May our hearts, be open to hear what lies beneath the actions. When we hear social discord may our first response be for true justice, for housing, food, poverty alleviation, mental health supports, pharmacare, free health care for dental and optical. May it be to not use those tools that can cause neighbours to stumble to fund ours and our Childrens educational future and care for our communities but rather our tax dollars for we truly should invest in one another to thrive and discover.
May we continue to see your image before us and know how to love as you have called us to love. May our tables always have an open chair for the yet to meet friend.
O blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen. (Closing paragraph from the Episcopal Prayer Book).
Hymn
BP 338 Let All Things Now Living
Benediction and Choral Commissioning
Three-Fold Amen
Rat Park comic: https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/rat-park/
P.S. it is always a blessing befor service to pray with my son.
A Monk's Musings 